A group of hackers that hit the Church of Scientology's site earlier this year have apparently cracked the Yahoo Mail account belonging to Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP nominee for Vice President, according to documents and screenshots posted on the Web.

A security expert called the practice of using private e-mail accounts "incredibly dangerous" for public officials like Palin.

The group, which calls itself "Anonymous," announced that it had gained access to Palin's Yahoo account in a message last night to WikiLeaks, a site that regularly posts confidential documents. Among the files passed to WikiLeaks -- which the site had posted for download -- were five screenshots from the gov.palin@yahoo.com, an address book and two digital photos of Palin's family.

One of the account's screenshots shows a short exchange in July between Gov. Palin and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who is running against Democrat Ethan Berkowitz for the state's lone Congressional seat. In her reply, Palin called Anchorage-based conservative radio host Dan Fagan "inconsistent and purposefully misleading" in his comments about Parnell.

Another screenshot displays the text of a message to Palin from Amy McCorkell, who Palin appointed to the Governor's Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in October 2007. According to a press release issued by Palin's office at the time, McCorkell, like Palin, lives in Wasilla, Alaska and is formerly a private legal investigator, an office worker and fitness instructor.

In the message dated Sunday, McCorkell said: "I am reading the paper and have thoughts and prayers going your way......don't let the negative press wear you down! Pray for me as well. I need strength to 1. keep employment, 2. not have to choose. Lately I just pray may God's will be done."

The day before, the New York Times had published a story critical of Palin's hiring practice as governor. The story did not mention McCorkell, but said that Palin had appointed at least five former high school classmates to state positions since she took office.

Palin has come under criticism for using private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, with some alleging that she and others in her administration have used them to skirt message retention and public records laws. The Bush administration has been accused of doing the same thing.

"Using private account for government or business use is incredibly dangerous," said Adam O'Donnell, director of emerging technologies at message security vendor Cloudmark Inc. "There's a reason why you have an official account. It's so that you can apply proper security management to the account."

Earlier this year, the Anonymous group launched several attacks against the Web site of the Church of Scientology, claiming it wanted to "save people from Scientology by reversing the brainwashing."

The Republican National Committee and the McCain-Palin campaign had no immediate comment.

First appeared in the Computerworld. Thanks to Gregg Keizer and the Computerworld for covering this material. Copyright remains with the Computerworld. Consult http://www.computerworld.com for reprint rights.